


Blood Will Tell

by Robynx



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Background Law/Lu, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 02:20:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17133212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Robynx/pseuds/Robynx
Summary: Ace started off hating soulmates. Afterall Moster's shouldn't have soulmates. But Ace's blood runs as blue as a Pheonix's flames. There may be a mishap or two along the way, but at the end of the day, blood really does tell.





	Blood Will Tell

**Author's Note:**

> This was done for One Piece Secret Sants 2018, for local-fishy-boi.

“Ace? How come your arm’s leaking blue?”

It was an innocent question, but Luffy really needed to learn when to shut his mouth. Sabo immediately shot over and yanked Ace’s arm up away from where he’d been keeping it pressed against his side. He would deny fervently that he’d winced.

“Shit Ace, you idiot, your hurt!” Sabo yelled.

‘I’m fine” Ace asserted, attempting to yank his arm out of his brother’s grip.

“There’s a hole in your arm, you’re not fine!” Sabo countered, yanking back.

“Ace is HURT!” Luffy screeched in a panic, causing both of the older boys to scramble and cover their ears. Then came the inevitable water works.

“No I’m not, stupid crybaby knock it off!” Ace snapped, “Dang it Sabo, look what you’ve done.”

“Shut up Ace,” the blond snapped back, “You shouldn’t have gone after the boar on your own!”

“Well I killed it didn’t I? We needed the food.” Ace justified.

“But you didn’t tell us you were hurt!” came Sabo’s immediate retort.

Ace huffed, “Well I’m fine so I don’t see why it matters!”

“It matters because we care about you you idiot!” Sabo exclaimed exasperated.

There was a coiling in Ace’s gut that he’s couldn’t place but he plowed ahead anyways. “Well I didn’t ask you to!”

Sabo looked like he was about to start another round of arguments when Luffy cut in. “Does Ace not want to be brothers anymore?” He sobbed.

“What!?!” “WHAT?!” Came the simultaneous reply from the older boys.

“What the heck Lu!?” Ace snapped, trying to hide his panic.

Sabo on the other hand immediately rushed over to the younger boy. “Where did you get an idea like that?” He questioned softly.

“But, But Ace said he didn’t want us to care about him anymore!” Luffy sobbed.

“Hush, shh, shh,” Sabo cooed, “Ace is just being dumb.”

Resentment immediately sprang to the forefront of Ace’s conscious and he couldn’t stop himself from blurting out. “Hey!”

“He didn’t mean it like that.” Sabo continued ignoring Ace’s interruption, “I bet if you ask him he’ll say the same thing, and apologize for making you think that.”

“I, wait,” Ace spluttered, “Don’t go putting words in my mouth!”

There were a few muffled sniffles before Luffy’s teary voice whispered, “Really?”

“Really Really.” Sabo confirmed.

There were a few more moments of silence before Luffy spoke again, “So Ace still wants to be our brother?”

Ace shifted awkwardly in silence causing Sabo to send a glare would have filleted him if it could. The freckled youth finally groaned in exasperation and plopped down beside his brothers. “Of course I still want to be your brother you idiot, if I wasn’t around you’d get yourself eaten before noon and then I’d feel guilty.”

“Promise?” Luffy whispered.

“I promise.” Ace huffed before immediately having his arms full of sobbing Luffy. “Dang it, now what’s wrong crybaby?” he whined.

“Nothin. I’m not crying. I’m happy.” Luffy sniffed into Ace’s shirt.

Ace sighed, shot a look at Sabo when he started giggling, and resigned himself to being cried on for the immediate future.

 

* * *

 

“Hey Ace?” Luffy asked later that night in their tree house.

“What Lu?” Ace sighed, resigning himself to some ridiculous question.

“How come your arm was all blue?” came Lu’s predictably idiotic question.

Ace rolled his eyes as he answered, “It’s called blood stupid.”

“Nuh Uh!”  Luffy snapped back, “Blood red!”

“No it’s not you idiot!” Ace scolded.

He almost regretted it when the younger boy started whining. “Is too!”

“How would you know anyway, your rubber!” Ace snapped, annoyed.

“Before that, when I stabbed myself,” Luffy explained, “I was bleeding and it was red!”

“YOu what!” Came the choked response from the rooms third inhabitant. Ace was doing a double take and trying to process that statement.

“And the bandits that got shot and stuff all bleed red too!” Luffy continued unperturbed.

“Putting aside the fact that he stabbed himself, which we are going to talk about later, Luffy’s right Ace, blood is red.” Sabo finally threw in his two cents.

Luffy jumped up in excitement. “TOLD YOU!” he yelled.

“Wait, What!” Ace spun to face Sabo glaring.

“Blood is red Ace,” Sabo explained, “All blood’s red.”

“Mine’s not.” Ace pointed out in a huff.

“We noticed.” Sabo deadpanned back.

“ShiShiShi,” Luffy laughed bouncing up and down, “Ace has mystery blood!”

“Seriously Lu?” Ace groaned.

“What?” Came the innocently confused response.

“You know…” Sabo murmured to himself.

“Know what?” Ace inquired, redirecting his attention to his agemate.

Sabo evidently didn’t like the attention because he shifted around anxiously and stumbled over his words “Well, er, it might, possibly, be your soulmark?”

Ace got cold at the very mention of, of _that_ , and glared. “No.” He declared.

“That’s so cool!” Luffy exclaimed, oblivious as always to the tension in the room.

“No it’s not, because it’s not a soulmark because I don’t have one because soulmates aren’t real!” Ace snapped at the younger boy.

“They are too!!” Luffy whined.

“No they’re _not_!” Ace shot back. Soulmates weren’t real. If they were then his mother would have never been with the monster that was his father and she would have never died.

“Uh-hu” Luffy continued.

“Nu-uh” Ace growled.

“Uh-hu” From Luffy.

“Nu-uh” From Ace.

“Uh-hu” from Luffy.

“Uh-hu” Ace shook his head.

“Nu-uh” Luffy shot determined.

Ace sat back looking smug, “So we agree, they’re not real.”

“What,” Luffy sat back confused before he realized what had happened and exclaimed, “NO!”

“You just said,” Ace started.

“Shut up, Ace tricked me!” Luffy yelled cutting Ace off.

Ace snorted turning his nose up, “Well you should have been smarter then.”

“Sabo!!!!” Luffy cried out to the other boy for help.

“Ugg, seriously Ace?” Sabo groaned, pulling his hand down his face.

“What, it’s not my fault Lu’s so gullible.” Ace huffed.

“But soulmates are real!” Luffy insisted, “Ma-Chan and shanks are soulmates! I saw it. Shanks had Ma-Chan’s words in a weird circle on his chest and Ma-Chan had this weird splotch on her hand that turned red when Shank’s kissed her there and so it is to a thing!”

He was so earnest, and Miss Makino did have red lips on her hand…

“Fine maybe it’s a thing,” Ace grumbled, “but not for me. I don’t have a soulmate.”

“But Ace, Luffy wined, “Everyone has a soulmate, that’s the whole point!”

“Well maybe I don’t want one!” Ace snapped. Or maybe no one would want him as one. No one would ever want a monster as their soulmate.

“But.. why?” Lu’s voice was soft and so utterly lost. “A soulmate is supposed to be a person that you get to be best friends with and no matter what you know your never ever alone cause you have someone special…”

“Well if it’s so great, then what’s your soulmark, hu Lu?” Ace lashed out.

“I have this red string see?” Luffy said waving his empty hand around. “And while I’m becoming Pirate King I’m gonna follow it and find my soulmate and we’re gonna be together forever and ever, no matter what!”

“Don’t be such an idiot Luffy,” Ace seethed, “Real life doesn’t work like that and there’s nothing on your hand!”

“It does too, Ace is just a jerk!” Luffy cried out, eyes watering, “Sabo agrees with me!”

Ace rolled his eyes before turning to the other boy. “Sabo tell him to stop being an idiot.”

“Well, actually Ace.” Sabo started, in a tone that told Ace he wasn’t gonna like what Sabo had to say, “I kinda agree with Lu.”

“What! Why” Ace demanded.

“Well, my,” Sabo started awkwardly, “The nobles hate soulmarks, it gets in the way of politics and advantageous marriages and crap like that and well, one day I woke up and my whole back was covered with this sun and, I don’t know, it just felt so, right, you know. I know my parents were wrong, so I want to believe in soulmates. I guess.” Sabo finished with an awkward heartfelt shrug.

“Ugg, fine,” Ace caved, helpless against his brothers, “Maybe my stupid blood being the wrong color is a shitty soulmark, doesn’t mean I have to like it.” He grumbled.

 

* * *

 

“Dam that kids stubborn.” Thatch mussed, watching the daily drama.

“Humm” came Marco’s response. He had been pointedly ignoring said daily drama.

“I mean seriously,” Thatch continued, gesturing towards where their newest acquisition was being thrown through the deck, “It’s been over a month and he’s still going at it.”

Marco pointedly flipped the newspaper page before answering. “He’s determined, yoi”

“But he also does the weirdest things Marco,” Thatch was just as pointedly ignoring Marco’s cues to leave, “The other day Izo was following these blue handprints on the wall and saw him with bright blue paint all over his arm. Like, was it some sort of waked prank or what?” Thatch mused, “The kid just doesn’t make sense.”

“Pop’s thinks he should be part of our family, yoi.” Marco sighed, still somewhat frustrated with their adoptive father's non-existent reasoning, “That’s all there really is to it.”

 

* * *

 

“Oh come on Ace! You gotta, hick, tell me” Thatch slurred as Ace dragged him along the hall of the Moby Dick.

“Thatch, your drunk.” Ace scolded, “I’m getting you to bed.”

Thatch let out a whine, “NoOooOo, I wanna see Izo!”

“Thatch, you dumped an entire bottle of sake on your head and laughed. Ace explained slowly as he tugged the older man along, “Izo would shoot you if you so much as tried to touch them.”

“Nuh-uh,” Thatch scolded. Then he giggled, “We’re soooullmaates Izo woul never shoo me.”

Ace chuckled, “Yes well, if you get sake all over Izo’s komono, they might make an exception.”

“Buu Aaaaceee, Izo loooves me!” Thatch wined.

“Yes but let's not test how far that love goes.” Ace said rolling his eyes as he tugged open the door to Thatches room.

“Aacce, why re you alwa so sin’ hick’ sinkle.” Thatch hickuped, clinging to Ace’s body, “Why don’t you believe in love.”

“Come on Thatch, here we go, into bed.” Ace coaxed, peeling the older man off.

“Ace, ace, ace, listen, ace, are you listenin?” Thatch whispered frantically, gesturing for Ace to lean in.

“Yes thatch, I’m listening.” Ace laughed, leaning in to humor his drunk ship-brother.

“Goo, Ace, It’s important, ace, ace,” Thatch pulled himself close and cupped his hands around Ace’s ear before whispered, “wha’s your soulmark?”

Ace jerked back dumping Thatch onto his bed before he walked out, “Goodnight Thatch.”

“Nooo, wait ace don’…” The door tugged closed, cutting Thatch off.

“Thanks for that, yoi”

Ace jumped and spun around at the voice from behind him.

“Oh, Marco,” He said face flushed, “no problem. Ace desperately hoped that said flush wither would not be noticed or would be blamed on his start. Not that he had been startled or anything.

“Realy,” Marco continues, blessedly ignoring Ace’s embarrassment, “It’s usually a pain to get thatch anywhere when he gets like this.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this drunk.” Ace rubbed the top of his head, as he shrugged, trying to regain some level of cool. Please let Marco think he’s cool.

“It’s new year’s, yoi.” The older man answered with a shrug of his own, “A lot of our siblings let themselves go farther than they normally would.

“I guess so...” Ace trailed off.

“Any particular reason you’re not celebrating?” Marco asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“I, er, just don’t like alcohol that much I guess?” Ace scrambled. It wasn’t like it was his birthday which should have never happened or anything.

“If you say so, yoi” Marco drawled, evidently buying the excuse.

Ace decided it was time to make his exit before he made an even bigger fool of himself. “Yah well, I’m gonna go clean up, thatch is gonna have a heck of a time getting that sake out of his hair tomorrow.” As Ace went to pass, Marco placed a hand on his arm, halting him.

“You’re a good brother Ace.” He said, eyes smiling, “I’m glad you’re part of this family.”

Ace flushed, ducking his head and almost bolting down the hall.

 

* * *

 

“Marco,” Came a screech from the hallway, causing said man to jolt awake. “Marco get out here now!” came the continued scream.

Groaning Marco pulled himself out of his nice, soft, warm, comfortable, bed. Stumbling towards the door he grabbed for a shirt and ended up with his lab coat instead. It took all of 3 seconds for Marco to decide that he did in fact not care and shrugged it on as he went to find out what disaster he needed to clean up this time.

“It’s 3am yoi,” Marco groaned as he opened the door, “What’s going….”

He was immediately cut off by an extremely flushed and obviously out of breath Portages D. Ace. “Attack, Thatch, stabbed, the infirmary” He panted.

Marco swore and bolted past Ace, tearing down the hallway towards his infirmary. The Phoenix didn’t register the blue that smeared on his arm as he did, nor how Ace slumped limply against the wall.

 

* * *

 

Ace shuffled back and forth in front of the infirmary. He’d gotten himself patched up and he needed to know what had happened; If he had been fast enough or if his failure to see Teach for what he was had cost Thatch his life. But Marco could always _tell_ when someone was hurt, some weird Doctor thing, and it hadn’t been that bad, Thatch was way worse and was the one who needed medical treatment, and what if by going in he directed attention away from Thatch and made things even worse than he already had and he lost another brother and…

The door swung open and Ace was left staring awkwardly at Marco who simply raised an eyebrow.

“Is, is he going to be ok?” Ace finally managed to ask, head down.

“I think so, yoi.” Came the tiered response, “He’s stabilized now, it’s just a matter of when he’s going to wake up.”

“But,” Ace halted unsure of himself, “But he’s OK, right?” He questioned softly, not daring to hope.

Marco’s hand came to rest on Ace’s shoulder, the weight helping to ground him. “Yes Ace, our brothers going to be ok.” Marco reassured.

Ace found himself believing it.

 

* * *

 

“Um, sir?” A soft voice broke through to Marco’s conscious. He glanced up from his paperwork to see a nurse had cracked open the door to his office. Upon gaining his attention she continued, “You should take a look at this”

“What is it yoi?” Marco asked, removing his glasses and rubbing at his eyes. It had been a long day and he still had a mound of paperwork, both commander and medical, to get through today.

The nurse, Rachel, stepped forward carrying a lab coat in her hands. “Er, well…” she stared turning the coat in her hands, “we were doing the sanitization, and well, we found this blue compound.” She lifted the cloak up to reveal long blue streaks along the side of the side. “Thing is, Marco sir,” She glanced up, took a deep breath and finished with far more confidence that she started with, “As far as we can tell, it’s blood.”

“What…” he breathed as he took the garment, string awestruck at the stained fabric in his hands.

“Yah, we don’t understand it either,” Rachel continued in a rush, “but all of our tests confirm that it’s blood. It’s, just, blue. Do you know what might have caused that sir? I mean, we’ve been throwing around ideas of course, rare disease, some sort of chemical reaction, devil fruit of some kind, Mary is convinced it’s some sort of soulmark, and...”

“I’ll look into it Rachel,” Marco cut her off, “Thank you.”

Rachel bobbed her head before exiting, leaving Marco alone with his thoughts. If this really was blood, and if it really was a soulmark, which was honestly the only real explanation for the coloration, which matched his flames kind of freakishly well, then, it was possible that…

 

* * *

 

Ace groaned as he heard the approaching footsteps. “Go away Thatch.”

“Nope.” Thatch popped the p as he leaned against Ace’s door frame.

“Seriously Thatch,” Ace almost pleaded, not wanting his somewhat nosy ship-brother to get involved, “Leave me alone.”

“You bolted out of the mess hall and left a half-eaten plate of food behind.” Thatch stated, crossing his arms, “Somethings up. Spill.”

Ace debated with himself before concluding that Thatch wasn’t likely to leave without answers and that he would probably kick up a fuss if he tries to find said answers on his own, and finally mumbled out, “It’s stupid.”

“Well if it made you of all people abandon food, it’s obviously important to you.” Thatch slid down to sit next to Ace. “Cross my heart, hope to die, let Marco peck out my eye, I won’t laugh, and I won’t tell anyone.”

There was a long silence before Ace finally whispered, “I think I like Marco.”

“Wait, seriously?” Thatch asked, “That’s all?”

“Thatch this is serious!” Ace snapped, not in the mood to be made fun of.

“I know, I know,” Thatch immediately backtracked, hands up, placating, “I just, I thought it was going to be some big world-shattering dilemma, if you like the bird brain, just tell him.”

“What?!” Ace jerked to stare at the older man, “Are you crazy?! I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” came the frustratingly honest question.

“You, I, you’re not supposed to,” Ace sighed trying to explain, “I have no clue what Marco’s soulmark is and there’s no way it would be me so…” he shrugged in resignation.

“No, ok, full stop.” Thatch said, rubbing his eyes as he brought his hand up, “You don’t think you're allowed to have a crush on Marco because you don’t know if your soulmates or not?”

“I, well, yes?” Ace questioned, suddenly unsure, “That’s how it works right?” They weren’t soulmates, despite the fact that his freaky blood was practically the same color as the phoenix’s flames, so they weren’t meant to be together. Because Ace wasn’t meant to be with anyone at all, because no one deserved to have the son of a demon as their soulmate

“Wrong.” Thatch pinged, without a hint of hesitation.

“But…” Ace started to explain.

“Ace, do you know how many people I dated and messed around with before Izo and I found each other?” Thatch questioned, the intensity in his eyes surprising Ace.

“I, don’t know?” Ace questioned, the sudden change in topic throwing him for a loop.

“Neither do I,” Thatch stated briskly, “It was a lot.”

Ace startled and stared incredulously at, this is Izo my soulmate who is the most amazing person in the entire world, Thatch. “Wait but you…”

“Didn’t care and wasn’t exactly inclined to follow some random compass on my arm that was supposed to dictate my life.” Thatch shrugged as if he hadn’t just broken every perception Ace had ever had of him and continued, “And you know Raphel and Mika from the 8th division?”

“The twins?” Ace questioned, “Yes? What does that have to do with…?” He trailed off confused.

“Soulmates.” Thatch answered, “Brothers, soulmates, not a hint of romance.” He must have seen the confusion across Ace’s face because he laughed a little as he continued, “Soulmate doesn’t always mean romantic partner Ace. People have relationships outside of soulmate bonds all the time Ace.”

“Oh.” What else could Ace say?

“So, where’d you get that idea anyway?” Thatch asked, smiling gently at the younger man.

“Er, I guess,” Ace started awkwardly. He wanted to explain himself, why he was right, but he also didn’t want his ship-brother to think he was an idiot or childish. “I guess all the ones I’ve known about have been waiting until you found your soulmate and having a happily ever after.” Ace blushed looking down. “I don’t think Ma-Chan had ever even kissed anyone until he showed up, and the way my brothers would talk about it…” Ace rubbed the back of his head as he trailed off. It was silly. He knew that.

Evidently Thatch didn’t agree with him because he almost immediately piped up. “Ok, that’s adorable.”

Ace flushed again. Stupid emotions

Thatch ruffled Ace’s hair, causing him to pout scowl as Thatch continued, “But seriously, if you like Marco, just, I don’t know ask him out at the next island stop or something”

Ace jerked up, panicked, and immediately denied the suggestion “What? No! Thatch this is Marco, he doesn’t have time to deal with some stupid crush!” Marco was kind and sweet and worked so hard as the first mate and 1st division commander and the ships doctor and he just did so much for people individually outside of all that and with Ace and his stupid emotions? Not something Marco should have to deal with.  

“I’ll get over it and everything will be fine and…” Ace’s plan was cut off by a hand over his mouth. He glared at Thatch and debated licking said hand when Thatch spoke.

“Ace you oblivious idiot.” Thatch sighed and moved to stand up, “Fine, I’ll go ask him for you.”

“NO!” Ace lunged and dragged him down. “You promised not to tell.”

“Wah, get off!” Thatch thrashed, “I’m not telling I’m just gonna tell bird brain to take you out to dinner.”

“No.” Ace asserted shifting his grip.

Thatch rolled and Ace twisted with him.  “Aug that’s my gut,” Thatch cried when said twist placed Ace’s knee into said gut. The two of them thrashed around for a few more moments, grunting and rolling around and knocking into things.

“You little,” Thatch growled, obviously frustrated with his inability to break free.

Ace just smirked, he had experience wrestling crocs whenever Luffy got himself eaten, which was far to often, so there was no way Thatch was getting loose.

Evidently Thatch had figured this out because he bucked his hips in a last ditch attempt as he snapped, “Get off!”

“Am I interrupting something yoi?” the amused voice caused both combatants to freeze, looking up. Marco stood over them, slight smirk on his face as he looked down. Ace’s brain seemed to stop working.

“Huh, Marco, hi, no, we’re fine, right Ace, perfectly fine.” Thatch spewed out in an embarrassed semi-panic, “Uhh, this isn’t what it looks like.”

Marco raised an eyebrow in response.

Thatch winced. “Don’t tell Izo.” He pleaded as the two of them tried to untangle themselves.

Marco shook his head and walked away, obviously laughing on the inside. As he passed out of sight Ace buried his face in his hands

“You ok Ace?” Thatch teased, poking his shoulder.

Ace didn’t even bother to look up as he groaned out, “Just throw me overboard please.”

 

* * *

 

“Alright Marco, you’ve been spending way too much time cooped up in this office. What’s going on?” Izo demanded strolling through the door to Marco’s office.

Marco sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Nothing Izo, I’m fine.”

“There’s a smelly piece of fabric on your desk that say’s otherwise.” Izo deadpanned before reaching forward, “Honestly, what are you doing with that, let me take it clean...”

“Don’t touch that!” Marco snapped, yanking the stained lab coat back against his chest. He immediately regretted the rash action.

“Ok. What’s going on.”  Izo demanded, brows raised.

“Nothing, abnormal blood stains.” Marco quickly tried to cover up his sleep-deprived blunder. “Research project. Making sure it’s not a disease that could spread across the crew.”

“Right.” Came the sarcastic response. Izo stared at him for a few moments before leaning casually against Marco’s desk and examined their nails. “You know Whitey-Bay has it so all of her crew has their soulmark on their medical files, just in case it’s needed.” They said, “I don’t think Pops would be opposed to implementing it.”

Shit. How the heck?

“I don’t see how that’s relevant Izo.” Marco almost growled, willing his sibling to drop the issue they had miraculously immediately pegged.

“Just an idea Marco.” Was the casual response. Izo waved on their way out.

Marco banged his head down on his desk. He then sighed, opened his eyes, and tentatively relinquished his only clue back onto his desk. He had to figure out who his soulmate was. Marco didn’t know what he would do if he got this close after so long, only to lose them.

 

* * *

 

Ace paced outside Marco’s room. This was stupid. He should have never listened to Thatch. He should just go back to his room. Yah. That was a good plan. Ace turned to go, slipped, and banged against Marco’s door.  Panicking Ace’s decision of whether to bolt or not was decided for him as the door opened and a tired looking Marco stepped out.

“Yes, yoi?” Came the question from the older man.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were busy,” Ace rambled awkwardly, intent on escaping, “I can come back later. I’ll just...”

“It’s fine Ace,” Marco stopped him with a soft simile, “what did you need?”

Ace’s heart fluttered at the sight. If he didn’t do this now, he wasn’t ever going to get the courage to do it. Taking a deep breath Ace tried desperately to not embarrass himself worse. “Err, well, I was wondering, if, maybe, if your not going to be busy.” Shit, he was rambling. Taking another deep breath Ace tried again. “The next island is supposed to be famous for its waterfalls and Iwaswonderingifmaybeyou’dwanttogoseethemwithme?” He finished in a horrid rush and had to suppress a wince. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Ace glanced up to see how badly he had messed up. His heart went cold.

Marco’s face had fallen, the phoenix’s eyes holding a combination of resignation, disappointment, and regret. “I…” He started.

“Your right it was stupid of me to ask,” Ace cut him off, not wanting to face the obvious rejection, “ I’ll just get out of your hair now and...” He turned and prepared to bolt for real this time.

“Ace, wait,” Marco called, grabbing Ace’s arm to stop him. Marco sighed and attempted to smile as he continued. “It’s not that I don’t want to go it’s just.” He paused awkwardly, “I’ve been waiting, yoi. And I think they’re, my soulmate, is on the ship. I would love to go with you to the waterfalls, I just don’t want to build something that might not last very long and you deserve better than that, yoi.”

“I understand.” Ace said, eyes down. “I’m sorry for bothering you.” He tugged lightly, and Marco relinquished his grip on Ace’s arm. Ace gave a half grin, that probably looked more like a grimace.  IT took all of his willpower to walk away, willpower that gave out as soon as he har rounded the corner and his stupid hopeless crush was out of site.

Ace tore down the corridors of the Moby Dick towards his room. Don’t cry, don’t cry, Portgas D. Ace don’t you dare cry.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Ace muttered to himself, blinking back tears. Of course Marco wouldn’t want to bother with him. He was waiting for his soulmate. Who wasn’t Ace. Of course it wasn’t Ace. Why on earth would someone as amazing and kind as Marco ever even consider going on a date someone as horrid as he was? Why the hell had he let Thatch talk him into this? He was such an idiot.

 

* * *

 

“Hey birdbrain, you’re brooding. What’s wrong.” Thatch asked, swinging himself into the crow’s nest where Marco has sequestered himself.

“Ace came by to ask me to head up to the waterfalls on the next island with him,” Marco said dejectedly, not even bothering to fight with Thatch. He just didn’t have the energy.

“I know, isn’t it perfect?” Thatch cooed, causing Marco to feel even worse. Evidently his brother didn’t notice because he powered on, “Ace loves the jungle and you can talk him into saying for the sunset and...” Thatch trailed off, finally noticing the way Marco had curled up into himself. “Marco what did you do?” Thatch asked cautiously.

“I told him no,” Marco admitted.

“YOU WHAT!!” Thatch screeched causing Marco to cover his ears and several of their brothers to glance their way. Dropping his voice That continued in a harsh whisper, “What the heck! You’ve been dancing around the fact that you like him for months! You’re too old, he wouldn’t be interested, blah blah blah blah blah. And then he asks you, making all those problems null and void and you said NO! Explain. Now.” Thatch finished his rant, almost panting.

“Thatch my soulmates on the ship,” Marco defended.

Thatch just glared, “And?” he almost snarled.

“And I’ve been looking for the last 2 decades. I don’t want to hurt Ace with a relationship that might only last a few days.” Marco tried to explain desperately.

It obviously didn’t work because Thatch seemed to grow even angrier. His voice dropped into a seething silver blade, “Did you ever consider, in that stupid bird brain of yours, for even one second, that maybe your suddenly appearing soulmate is ACE!”

Marco’s heart stopped. “I…” he didn’t even know what to say. Luckily, or not, Thatch obviously wasn’t done.

“He’s around 20, right?” He continued, voice sharp, “And one of the newest on the ship? And isn’t a soulmate supposed to be someone that you would care about and get along with? Before you have some cosmic signal that tells you this is the right person?”

A million thoughts shoved their way through Marco’s brain all of them bad. His regrets quickly transitioned into self-loathing and he was finally able to whisper, “Thatch, I messed up.”

“Well obviously,” thatch rolled his eyes. “Now go fix it.” He instructed sternly.

 

* * *

 

Marco tore through the halls of the Moby dick frantically. He had finally caught sight of Ace after weeks of not finding hide nor hair of him and Marco couldn’t bear to let things go any longer. “Ace, Ace wait!” He called out desperately.

Ace paused in his rather hasty retreat and visibly braced himself before answering. “Did you need something, sir.” He asked, not turning around. His voice was even pitched, respectful, polite. Cold. Distant. Not Ace.

Marco’s heart sank

“Damit Ace,” Marco swore, tugging at his temples, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

“I told you, I understand.” Came Ace’s response. It was oddly of pitched and strange as he continued, “It’s important to wait for your soulmate and I’m obviously not them and...”

“Oh for, why are you so stubborn.” Marco cried out cutting the younger man off. It pained him to see the fireball like this, insecure and self-deprecating. It was worse knowing that he was responsible. Marco forcible spun the younger man around to face him, liberating Ace’s dagger as he did so.

“I don’t, shit Marco what are you doing you…” Ace’s panicked voice cut off and his breath caught in his throat as he watched liquid gold drip down Marco’s arm. Ace had explained once under Thatch’s persistent questioning that the dagger he always carried around was actually made of sea-stone, a proverbial ace up his sleeve for dealing with other devil fruit users. Through of course Thatch had joked that Ace didn’t even have sleeves, and if he did, wouldn’t they technically already have an Ace in them?

Marco held on to that memory to ground himself as he tried to explain, although said explanation came out in incomplete partially crazed bursts. “I couldn’t tell you the exact date, but two decades ago, I got hurt, just a normal fight really, but I was cut, and found out my blood was… had become… had turned gold. Then, A few weeks ago, a month ago?” He shook his head, “A while ago, the nurses found some fabric stained with…”

“Blue blood” Ace whispered, eyes screwed shut. Ace’s blood was blue, the shade of the phoenix’s flames. Marco’s blood was the color of wealth, royalty, treasure. Of roaring flames and loud laughter. Of smiles worth more than all the riches of the world. Soulmarks didn’t always match exactly, but there was always a unifying thread. It would be nearly impossible to argue that their mismatched blood wasn’t a soulbond. Not with the timing of Marco’s coinciding with Ace’s birth.

“I, got obsessed, yoi.” Marco confessed, “I’d given up on ever getting a soulmark and having a soulmate ages before this happened, then I didn’t know what to do when it did and realizing they might be on the ship… I guess,” Marco lowered his gaze to the floor unwilling and unable to face Ace with such a pathetic excuse. Nevertheless, he continued on, owing it to them both. “I’ve been around a long time Ace. I guess at some point I forgot that a soulmate is a person, someone you care about, someone you fit with, someone you spend months agonizing to Thatch about asking out, yoi.” He took a steadying breath before forcing himself to meet Ace’s wide-blown eyes as he pinned all his hopes on his next question, “I know I messed up Ace, but would you be willing to give me a second chance?”

Marco wouldn’t blame Ace in the slightest if he said no. Marco had been horrible to him and he hardly deserved a second chance, but he wanted to make this right. He wanted to do this right. The Phoenix wanted to be able to love his Sun properly.

 

* * *

 

“Marco, look look!” Ace called for his boyfriend, slamming the door to their room open.

Said boyfriend looked up from the book he had been reading, “What is it Firefly?”

Ace bounded over to their bed and shoved the newspaper into Marco’s face, “Luffy’s in an alliance!”

“I can see that, yoi.” The older man pushing the newspaper away as he pulled himself into a more upright position and continued, “Your brother is an adult now love, I’m not sure what the problem is.” His tone was calm, with a hint of laughter in it and it was obvious he did not understand the severity of the situation.

“The problem is that!” Ace explained, pointing at the picture that had accompanied the article on the events at Dressrosa. A picture of his adorable baby brother and this, his new, ally. More specifically at the horrible thing tied to both of their pinkies.

“It looks like a red piece of string Ace.” Marco said slowly, obviously still oblivious.

“Luffy always said he had this red string going off into the sky and out to sea Marco!” Ace explained to his insufferably dense lover.

“Oh, so he’s found his soulmate?” Marco asked, perking up, “Well that’s wonderful news.”

Ace slapped his forehead, how could his Marco be so smart and so dumb at the same time? “No it’s not!” He scolded Did you even read the paper!”

“It’s hard to read when you're shoving it in my face, yoi.” Came the deadpan response.

Ace rolled his eyes and read aloud, “Trafalgar Law, Surgeon of Death. Of DEATH, Marco! And just look at him! There’s no way this creep is my precious sunshine baby brother’s soulmate!” he ranted.

“I think Luffy knows what he’s doing, yoi.” Marco’s voice had taken on its lecturing tone, “Like I said, he is an adult, plus from what you’ve told me, he’s always had a much better handle on soulmarks than either of us.”

Ace hated that tone, he wasn’t a child, and there was obviously a problem here. “Yes but,” He defended, “But look at this guy!”

“Ace, I’m older than your grandfather,” Marco reminded him gently, “And you hate it when people judge our bond based on that.”

“Well, yah,” Ace acknowledged, “Because they don’t know anything about us!”

“And you don’t know anything about this Trafalgar.” Marco continued, “Besides, do you really think Luffy would let anybody manipulate him?”

“… No” Ace finally grumbled out. He hated it when his lover insisted on making sense.

“Now stop pouting and come here, it’s cold,” Marco instructed, smirking.

“What? No it’s no... ack!” Ace was cut off as Marco’s arm shot out, yanking his own upsetting his balance and causing him to fall face first onto the bed. He was immediately besieged by a multitude of limbs. When the impromptu wrestling was over Ace found himself sprawled out on the bed, legs interlocked with Marco’s, while said man snuggled into his chest. “Silly birdy,” Ace cooed, “If you wanted to cuddle you coulda just asked.”

“I could have yoi.” Marco agreed. Then smirking he continued, “But this is much more satisfying.”

They lay together for some time, just basking in the presence of the other before Ace finally caved to the guilt nagging at his subconscious and spoke up. “People are gonna start wondering where we are soon.”

“Well that’s to bad for them.” Came the almost immediate reply.

Ace laughed a little, it wasn’t often that Marco was so willing to shirk his responsibilities and he would be lying if he wasn’t inclined to indulge his boyfriend’s mood. A soft hand on his cheek brought his attention to a pair of bright blue eyes before even softer lips claimed his own

“My beautiful golden treasure.” His soulmate whispered as they finally pulled apart.

“Love you to birdy.” Came Ace’s equally soft response. The way he felt in this moment, he doubted he would ever be able to get the dorky grin off his face. Ace had never been happier for the blood that ran through his veins.


End file.
